by shizouh
link here:https://archiveofourown.org/works/7866316
a;ways nice to have a nice, short fic, right?
zombie au, btw
The monsters chase them into the storage room, and when they slam the door behind them it locks automatically, and there's no exit.
Keith gasps, jumping back against the wall and hunching over. His gun is in his hands, his finger trembling over the trigger as he dry heaves and coughs all over himself. He feels Lance beside him, his hand hovering over his shoulder hesitantly, not sure whether to touch him or avoid him entirely.
Lance looks at the metal door and then back at the concrete wall they're trapped in. There's no possible exit other than the door, and when he pounds on the concrete wall his fist hurts.
"It... won't... break..." Keith breathes out, a line of saliva hanging from his mouth, his hand over his throat, "idiot. It's concrete."
"Do you have any better ideas!?" Lance whisper-yells.
"Why are you whispering?" Keith whispers back.
Lance gestures wildly towards the door, where a replying pound from outside echoes into the room. "Maybe they'll think we left?"
"...They saw us go in here," Keith deadpans.
Lance just inhales sharply and sinks to the floor, his legs spread out in front of him. Letting his pistol fall in between his legs, he turns the safety on and casually spins it with his finger.
Keith watches him for a few moments, glances at the door, and then follows in suit. He tucks his gun in his pouch, sliding down the wall to sit beside him. Tucking his knees to his chest, Keith swallows and looks at the one beside him.
Lance's eyes are closed, and his chest is rising and falling steadily. It's almost like he's sleeping, but from the way he's anxiously tapping the floor, he's wide awake. Keith eyes the scar that cuts through his eyebrow, down to the bandages wrapped around his arms and hands. He's beaten and banged-up, but so is Keith, and it would be a miracle to figure out why it was them who survived and not everyone else.
He can still hear their screams in his head. Pidge, after encountering their infected brother, ended up being bitten themself while lost in disbelief. He can still remember their sobbing before Shiro pulled the trigger.
Allura, crushed after saving Shiro and Keith from a collapsing building. He'd hardly known her, only for two days, and he was the reason she died.
He and Shiro had met Lance and Hunk much later, and neither of them were doing well. Hiding out underneath a bridge with no weapons wasn't a very ideal way to survive, but they had been doing it for weeks.
And then once Keith came along, Hunk died. He had a nasty cut on his arm from a railing, and with no medication available to even loot, it became infected until his body couldn't handle it anymore.
And... then Shiro. God. They'd been going fine, staying alive and helping any survivors they came across. But then Keith made the stupid mistake of trying to help a woman who had already been infected. The bite was clear on her shoulder, and she was already greying in complexion, but in her arms she had been holding a baby and it was crying and all he could think of was himself, how alone he was as a child, and he didn't want the baby to be abandoned and die—
—and when the woman lunged for him, he was shoved out of the way, and Shiro was bitten instead.
His fingers twitched, and the gun in his pouch felt oddly heavy.
Swallowing down the urge to vomit, Keith looked over at the door, and at Lance.
He didn't want to make any more stupid mistakes.
Hours, maybe, pass. And the door still rattles. Moans and groans come from outside, and it's like they're waiting. They know they're in there, and they're waiting for the chance to storm in all at once and devour them.
They may be monsters, but Keith knows they're smarter than they seem.
Lance is wide awake now, and he's holding his gun in both his hands, waiting for the moment when they barge through. But there's only two bullets inside his, and three inside Keith's—compared to the possible hundreds outside the door.
The metal door rattles and bangs, the groans and growls from outside rising in volume and intensity.
Keith bites his lip, and looks to the side. "What do we do?"
Lance takes a deep breath. "Well," he says, "I don't want to die a virgin."
Keith elbows him in the nose. He wants to yell at him, ask him how the hell he could joke in a time like this, but then he gets it.
They're going to die, and Lance has accepted it much faster and easier than Keith ever could.
Keith swallows, and his eyes burn. He turns his gaze to the ground.
Lance picks up a pebble and throws it against the wall. When it bounces off, it hits the ground and skids back towards his feet. Leaning over, he repeats the process, but the second time to doesn't skid close enough.
He sighs. "I wonder..."
Keith looks over.
"I wonder if my family is dead," Lance says absentmindedly. "Or... beyond dead."
Oh. Lance always would mention his family, talk about going looking for them. Keith suddenly feels guilt, and something akin to jealousy, rise in his chest, and he urges it down with an angry huff.
"Last saw 'em the morning it started," Lance mumbles, picking at the dirt underneath his nails. "Said goodbye to Mamá, kissed my baby brother and said I'd be back late because I had to work after school." He laughs to himself, his eyes looking glossy. "It's ironic, isn't it? Never managed to see them again... Even when I made it back home... they were gone. House was raided. Nowhere to be seen." He pauses, and then there's a tear trailing down his cheek. His lips is quivering. "Sorry," he suddenly says, his voice cracking, "I'm rambling..."
Keith shakes his head. "It's fine." He doesn't know what to do.
"I just..." And he sighs, and runs a shaky hand through his hair nervously. "... really don't want to die."
Strange. Strange to accept death, but to not wish for its arrival.
Keith blinks, and nods. "Yeah. Me too."
Lance sniffs and wipes his eyes furiously, groaning and scratching the back of his head.
There's a silence between them for a few minutes, but it's not awkward. It's calm, but also scary. Like a death countdown.
"Um," Lance suddenly starts, and that's awkward, "y'know, I-I've.... never actually hated you."
"Oh?" Keith tilts his head.
"Yeah, um." Lance's ears are turning pink, and it's cute. "I... guess I was just jealous." Before Keith can question, Lance continues. "You were so good at fighting and keeping people alive, and then there was me... I couldn't even keep Hunk alive..."
Keith begs to differ, but he stays silent. He's not sure what to say.
There's more banging on the door, and the hinges are beginning to snap off with each pound. They can see the outside vaguely with each pound, and the growling is louder and louder and the monsters definitely outnumber them.
There's no escape, from a room with one way in and out and five bullets.
They're going to die, together, on their last day on Earth.
Keith looks at Lance, and he's already staring at him, his eyes flicking downwards to his lips and his shoulders in a split second, but he catches it. Lance meets Keith's eyes, and it's a silent exchange. A silent agreement. A silent promise. They die together. They die fighting together.
Not each other, like they've done so many times before.
There's another slam, a screech, and one of the hinges fly off.
Lance swallows, like he's nervously. "So... what do we do?"
Keith looks at the door, watches the way the second hinge is hanging by a loose screw, and nudges his head towards the door. "Only one thing to do, right?"
Lance nods, and they're kissing.
Lance's hand slides into Keith's hair, pulling him closer, and Keith grabs onto his shoulders and runs his hands down his arms and forearms until he's holding onto both of his wrists. He feels the bandages, traces the wounds underneath.
In the background, the second hinge flies off.
He ignores the sound of the metal door falling and the rush of footsteps.
this one just makes me laugh, i dunno why...